MOSCOW: The Russian rouble was flat on Tuesday, becalmed along with the price of oil, with analysts divided over whether the central bank would cut its key policy rate at a meeting on Friday.
At 0745 GMT, the rouble was unchanged against the dollar at 65.24 and also little moved at 74.17 versus the euro.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.1 percent at $50.6 a barrel, holding near a seven-month high.
VTB Capital analysts said in a note that the rouble was underperforming emerging market peers, with the market seeing lacklustre volumes despite oil holding above $50 a barrel and the dollar weakening on declining expectations of an imminent U.S. interest rate hike.
Analysts are divided over whether the Russian central bank will cut interest rates at its next meeting on Friday. A majority of analysts polled by Reuters predicted a half-point cut, though a significant minority expected no change.
"The focus of the current week remains oil prices and data connected with them," analysts at Rosbank said in a note, calling the upcoming meeting of the central bank "less significant".
Russian share indexes rose, tracking global markets which are being boosted by higher commodity prices and diminished expectations of a U.S. rate hike.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 1 percent to 932 points, while the rouble-based MICEX was 0.8 percent higher at 1,930 points.
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